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Guest Glenda Cartwright

Guest Glenda Cartwright

I'm a black Guyanese woman and together with my husband Joshua we've written a book to empower children of Caribbean heritage, especially those from Guyana. The Granny JJ Adventures is a set of stories about an old lady - Granny JJ (based on my mother) who solves mysteries in the villages and towns of Guyana. She speaks Creole (which is like Patwa - English with words from African, Arawaken, Dutch and Indian - it's easy to pick up) and the book is full of traditional wisdom proverbs, hand-drawn sketches and fun. We've had people enjoy it from Jamacia, Trinidad and even the Middle East!

We really pushed hard with this book - we initially wanted to write something so our daughter Seraphina Harmony Beautiful could read about her grandmother but we decided to push it and eventually got it into the hands of President Granger of Guyana. The High Commissioner of Guyana has reviewed it, some of the the US Peace Corp in Guyana are using it and we are about to sign a deal with the Government to get thousands of copies into the school system.

My fellow writers - this was our first book - we wrote it at a time when things were hard but we believed in it. I also wrote Seraphina Angel - a set of stories about a little girl angel who solves the problems of 5-6 year olds.